Rising and Falling
by SuperShipper
Summary: A failed confession, an unconventional deal, and a secret that can cost her life. Hoshi Akarui thought she had enough problems, but fate always found a way to prove her wrong. She should have learned by now not to take things by face value. (a rewrite of an old story, please bare with me)


**A/N Hey everybody! I haven't written fanfiction for quite a while now, you'd never believe what kind of year it's been. But I decided that this story needed some closure, so I have returned! *bum ba da duuuummmmm* Anyways, I was reading over this story, trying to recall where I left off and I was CRINGING AT THE WRITING BECAUSE OH MY GOSH THIS WAS ME A YEAR AGO AND I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS STORY HAS GARNERED SO MUCH SUPPORT. So I'm going to do a re-write, and see where that takes me. I hope you'll stick around ;D(as you can see, my habit of writing painfully long Author's notes has not diminished in the slightest.) Let's begin!**

**DISCLAIMER: Ouran Highschool Host Club does not belong to me, if it did Haruhi would've ended up dating all of them at once ****because gosh darnit every ship in this fandom is too cute**

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><p><em>The snow gathered in clumps along the courtyard, decorating the neat grass with its white sheen. Two people faced each other amidst the well-kept area, their uniforms melting into the background. One was taller than the other, with fiery hair that didn't match the politely bored expression written all over his face. If one would look closely, they'd see an envelope in his hand, marked with the name 'Kaoru Hitachiin' in cursive letters. Across from him was a girl with strikingly blue eyes, who was hugging herself tightly and shivering, though whether it's from the cold or nerves is indistinguishable. <em>

_The boy (who we will assume is Kaoru, for the moment) holds up the note, "This was a very nice letter." _

_She was slightly taken aback by the compliment, and heat rose to her face, "Th-thank you."_

_Amused by her flustered reply, he smirked knowingly and said, "but you put it one the wrong desk."_

_The girl can feel her heart shatter, she had been sure it was the right one! But before she could reply, he voiced what she had feared, "I'm Hikaru," he choked down laughter at her crestfallen face, then leaned in, almost conspiratorially, "but between you and me, I'm pretty sure Kaoru already likes someone. If you want to date someone, how about me?" _

_She looked at him, eyes burning with unshed tears, and Hikaru(?) barely concealed his glee. It was all falling into place, as usual. Of course she would be fine with dating him, it's not like she cared about anything other than the Hitachiin name. Soon she'd be just another victim to their perfectly thought out plans._

_Now, imagine the shock on his face when she said, "I'm sorry."_

_Thrown off course, Hikaru(?) was almost-almost, mind you, he did have some composure remaining-gaping like a fish, "What...?"_

_This time, the tears fell with little to no effort of her keeping them at bay, "You had to pretend to be your brother just to tell me you don't like me," she sniffed, looking at the ground, "If I did something wrong, I'm sorry Kaoru." _

_"N-no, wait..." he spluttered, unsure of what to say._

_"Don't lie to me!" she silenced whatever he was going to say, then covered her eyes with her arm, "it's okay," she turned and ran away. _

_Kaoru stood there in stunned silence. Nobody could tell them apart, not even their mom. Why could she?_

_He went to confront her the next morning at school, but she wasn't there. And as absence after absence stacked up, he slowly forgot about the girl with blue eyes._

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><p>"Who is that?" "Why is she so late?" "Is she foreign?" Murmurs like these ring out through the Host Club at the sudden stranger's arrival. The stranger wears the typical Ouran girl's uniform, with a strange black case in her arms, along with a flyer of some sort.<p>

A boy with blond hair is the first to recover, and strides over to where the girl is standing gormlessly in the doorway. "Welcome, princess!" He smiles, grabbing her hand and planting a kiss on it. A light red dusts her cheeks, what's up with this guy? She carefully removes her hand from his grip.

"No thanks!" she says quickly, then mentally slaps herself. She swiftly places the case and flyer on the floor and smooths her skirt, clearing her throat, "My name's Hoshi Akarui, and today's my first day here, so please forgive me," she pauses, looking around the club, "but I thought this was the music room where they were hosting orchestra tryouts."

Tamaki just stands there, mouth agape. Did she...did she offend him? She's about to apologize, but's stopped when another boy walks up to her, "I believe the room you are looking for is music room four, Miss Hoshi," he says smoothly, pushing up his glasses, "this is music room three."

"Ah, thank you!" Hoshi smiles, then bows as a sign of respect for her senior. Her smile is short-lived though, as she remembers Tamaki, who's now in a corner, "Is he alright?" she asks.

"He's fine," the raven-haired boy says, as if the blond's change of demeanor is usual. _He's probably not used to being rejected, _she hypothesizes. But why did he get so easily depressed like that?

As if on cue, Tamaki instantly recovers, taking her aback at another sudden change of his personality, "Anyways, princess, what brings you here to our humble Host club?"

_Humble...right. _But the name of the mystery club confuses her, "What's a host club?"

It's as if she turned a switch, and for a moment she's sure he'll return to the corner, but Tamaki just smiles, probably happy to explain this, "The Ouran Host Club is a place where the school's handsomest boys with too much time on there hands entertain young ladies who also have way too much time on their hands, just think of it as Ouran Academy's playground for the super-rich and beautiful!" he ends with a flourish, gesturing to the rest of the room. Their impromptu audience had already deemed her unworthy of interest, and it seems like everything was back to business as usual.

The nice (but scary) fellow that assisted her earlier had already gone back to his seat at a table, pouring over a notebook (which looks an awful lot like a Death Note, Hoshi notices. She should probably stop reading so many Manga...) To his south was a brunette, who also occupies his own table. He seems fidgety, so she supposes there aren't many days when he doesn't have visitors. Near the west side of the room were two hosts at one table, one tall and dark, the other small and cute. What a fascinating combination, but the girls around them seem to be eating their interactions up. In the middle of the room was a couch/tea table set-up, where a bunch of girls seemed to be waiting for something. That's probably Tamaki's table, seeing as it's the only one unoccupied by a host. Finally, on the east side of the room is...a painfully familiar face. Well, two of them. The pair of redheads seem to be acting in a very...intimate way with each other, and the girls at their table were blushing madly. She tears her eyes away from the two, and focuses on Tamaki, who seems to be saying something about 'types'.

"So princess, who will you be requesting today?" Tamaki finishes, grabbing her chin, and _invading her space again_.

She chuckles weakly, "Aha, you know, I really should go to Orchestra tryouts," she gestures to the case on the floor, "after all, tomorrow's the last day for them, so I'll be going now." Hoshi picks up her flyer and instrument case, then makes her way to the open door.

"Nonsense!" Tamaki declares, brushing off her protest, "Every lady must feel the joys of being hosted at least once!"

She sighs, there's no way to get through to this guy. 'Choose your battles' her mom always says, "Okay. Just give me a second to figure out who I want to request." This mollifies him, and he returns to his table, where the girls patiently waiting there welcome his return, shooting venomous glares at Hoshi for taking up so much of his time. _Guess I'm not picking him, not like he's me 'type' anyways._

She glances at the twins, then decides a resolute no. She's not ready for that confrontation, not yet. She looks to the scary and helpful glasses guy, but he's giving off an aura of 'do not disturb'. Then there's the little kid, but his giant friend's a bit threatening. So, that leaves the brunette. He looks nice enough, she guesses.

Glad with her decision, she walks over to the table that he's sitting at and sets her instrument down, "May I sit here?"

The brunette looks at her and smiles, "Of course you can, miss." Upon closer inspection, he's really...well, handsome isn't quite the right word for it. He's as pretty as a girl! Come to think of it, between the doe-eyes and the soft features, he did look a lot like one, but then again, so did that little kid. Looks could be deceiving, after all.

The male utters a polite cough, and Hoshi realizes how long she's been standing there staring at him. She snaps out of her thoughts and sits down, trying to let it show how embarrassed she is.

He laughs a little, "What's your name?"

She smooths her skirt, something that's become sort of a habit recently, and tries to regain her composure, "My name is Hoshi, Hoshi Akarui," she pauses, then continues, having just thought of a way to ask his gender, "and why are you dressed like a boy?"

The boy's eyes widen frantically, but his voice remains calm, albeit a bit shaken, "Why would you think that, Miss Hoshi...?"

She stares at him with a raised eyebrow, letting out a small laugh, "Relax, I'm just joshing you," then she leans in jokingly, "but judging by your reaction, I'd say you have something to hide, right?"

He struggles for words, and she knows she's right. "Pffft," she tries to choke down her laughter at his flustered expression, "I'm sorry, your face was too funny!" She looks down at her watch, halting her near-giggle fit, "Darn, time to go home. I had fun, mister...?" she admits, then prompt the stranger for a name.

"Ah, yeah. I'm Haruhi Fujioka, It's nice to meet you." He shakes out of his stupor, then gives her a charming smile. So (s)he thinks she didn't notice, huh?

"A pleasure to meet you too," she recites cordially (as an heiress to a famous company, she must be polite and refined), then mimes pulling a zipper over her lips and winks, "and don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" She grabs her instrument case, then hurries out of the host club, leaving Haruhi at his-no, her-table.

_Maybe this could be a fun year after all._

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><p><em>Or maybe not... <em>she groans, banging her head against her locker. Turns out that the last orchestra tryout was yesterday! _Stupid, dumb Host Club, _she curses the club internally. At least she found a possible friend in their resident cross-dresser, and an ally is the best thing to have in that school. But still! Missing orchestra tryouts...now what is she going to do?! As a condition for going back to school, she has to join a club and have proof of at least one friend. After all, the only reason why she's allowed to attend school is because her mom feared that another year of staying home alone would impact her socialization skills.

But the important thing right now is, how in the world is she going to get into a club? She rejoined school in the middle of the year, and most registrations for clubs are over. That orchestra tryout was the only chance she had! She's going to be doomed to a life of home school and hospitals if she doesn't join a club!

"Are you okay?" A voice sounds from behind her. Whipping around suddenly, she notices that it's Haruhi, "you've been clutching your head ever since you banged it against the locker," the shorter girl deadpans.

"Oh, hi Haruhi," she greets, "Banging your head against a locker really hurts."

"So what's troubling you?"

Hoshi is surprised at the girl's inquiry, "What makes you think something's troubling me?"

"I don't normally see students banging their heads against lockers."

Another question strikes her, "Why do you care, then?"

Haruhi shrugs, "You looked like you needed someone to talk to, do I have to have an ulterior motive?"

_Yes,_ she answers internally, but ends up explaining everything anyways. Well, almost everything. Some secrets aren't meant to be shared, at least not until she trusts Haruhi more. But as of right now, the girl seems to be nice enough, cause she's nodding her head along to what Hoshi's saying with a pensive look on her face. When she finishes, the petite girl puts her fist in the palm of her hand and makes a small 'Aha!' sound.

"You should come to the Host Club." Haruhi states.

"That's what made me miss tryouts in the first place, Haruhi!"

"I know, I know," Haruhi raises her hands in a placating manner, "but think of it this way, if you stay at the host club after school, your mom won't suspect anything out of the ordinary."

...she has a point. But something still doesn't sit right with Hoshi, "Seriously, what's in it for you?"

"Well..." Haruhi trails off, then decides that it'd be best not to lie, "I have a debt to the host club, and it's reduced every time a customer requests me, plus my dad wants me to start making female friends. This arrangement would be mutually beneficial," after she says this, she rubs the back of her head sheepishly, "I guess I ended up having an ulterior motive after all."

To the brunette's surprise, Hoshi grinned, "It's okay, your ulterior motive helps mine," then she slings an arm around Haruhi's shoulder, "This sounds like the start of a beautiful new friendship!"

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><p>After their meeting this morning, Hoshi couldn't wait until class ended. She's pretty sure she just made a friend! Imagine that, both of her mom's conditions fulfilled in just two days! Hoshi practically skips her way to the host club, and arrives when everyone else does. When she shows up, the raven haired guy from the other day smirks, and the blond windbag, Tamaki, pumps his fist in the air, saying something about 'another lady satisfied'. She can't help but give a small smile at the fact that he wanted her to be happy.<p>

"Hey, Haruhi!" She greets jovially as she sits down at the host's table.

"Hi, Miss Hoshi," Haruhi says back. _Miss...probably has something to do with being a host and all,_ Hoshi thinks, _well, it's not like it's a insult. I'll just need to get used to it._

"So...how's life in the Host club?" she asks, breaking the silence that had descended.

Haruhi gives a noncommittal noise, "It's okay, I guess, though it can get a bit...extravagant at times."

"Sounds like it can be, what with its members. Who are they, anyways?" Hoshi asks, realizing that she really doesn't know anyone there, other than...yeah. She's resolved not to think about it.

"That's right, you just transferred in," _No I didn't I've only been gone for a year but you don't need to know that, "_so of course you don't know anyone.I'll tell you then."

First, she makes a small gesture to Sir Talksalot (wow, who knew making nicknames for this guy was so fun) "He's Tamaki Suoh, but I'm pretty sure you already met him yesterday," she chuckles softly, remembering the spectacle that was the day before, "He's a year older than us, and he can be a bit...over the top, but he means well," she says, almost fondly. _Well well well, what have we here? _Before Hoshi can say anything, Haruhi continues, pointing to the giant and the little kid, "That's Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Takashi Morinozuka, but we just call them Honey and Mori. Honey is really sweet, just like the cakes her eats, and Mori is described as 'wild', though he's ore of a gentle giant. They're two years older than us." She laughs more at Hoshi's expression of shock.

So the little kid was actually their senior?! She had been right, looks are deceiving.

After calming down, Haruhi goes on, pointing at the two redheads, being...um...passionate about their brotherly love again, "Those two are the Hitachiin brothers, Hikaru and Kaoru, the famed 'devil twins' of the host club," and oh, how that name suited them to a T, "they're pretty mischievous, but all in all harmless. They're in our year." Hoshi makes no comment, so Haruhi moves onto the last member, the glasses guy, "That's Kyoya Ootori, you saw him yesterday, too. He's not someone you want to make mad, but he's pretty good-hearted under all of that scariness-"

Suddenly, an overwhelming presence appeared, cutting off what Haruhi was saying, and sure enough, it's Kyoya, "Haruhi, I'd appreciate it if you didn't gossip about the club," he pushes up his glasses, "Unless, of course, you want your debt to be raised by one million yen?"

Haruhi leans back uneasily, "Of course not, Kyoya, I'll stop."

Satisfied, Kyoya returns to his table, with Haruhi muttering something about 'merciless tax collector' at his back. she continues where she left off, "but he doesn't like people knowing about his soft side," she finishes, much quieter than before. Hoshi contains her giggles as she mutters an 'I see.'

"So there you have it!" she concludes her introduction of the hosts. Hoshi claps politely, still trying not to laugh.

After they talk a bit more, Kyoya announces the closing of the Host club, all the girls let out a simultaneous 'aaaaw' but Hoshi doesn't fret; she can always come tomorrow.

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><p>"So, Hoshi," Haruhi says one day while they're at the host club on one of the days without any other requests for Haruhi. The lack of business is a little worrisome, but Haruhi shrugs it off whenever she mentions it. The club has been empty of girls recently, seeing as they're all preparing for something called the 'winter ball'. The whole affair sounds strange, but Hoshi decides not to ask. "Hoshi!" Haruhi snaps her fingers in front of her face. Hoshi shakes her head quickly, she really must stop getting so lost in thought.<p>

Biting back a smile, Haruhi continues, "My dad said he wanted you to come over for dinner today, seeing as he's been dying to meet my only 'female friend'," she says, "sorry for the late notice, but he just told me to invite you this morning..."

Hoshi laughs and shakes her head, "It's fine, no need to apologize. I'd be happy to attend dinner." A thought strikes her, and she looks pensive for a moment, "but I will have to inform my parents." _Hopefully I'll be allowed to._

"We want to come too!" a pair of voices say in unison, materializing on either side of Haruhi, each leaning an elbow on her head.

Another voice pipes up, its owner coming closer to where they are "A trip to Haru's house?! That sounds fun! Right, Takashi~?" Honey asks the giant next to him.

"Yeah," Mori replies, stony faced as ever.

"I too think we should all visit our dear Haruhi's home away from home~" And suddenly, Tamaki's here. The only one that seems to be missing is-

"It might prove to be beneficial, seeing as everyone already wants to go," And there he is, Kyoya pushes up his glasses.

"Guys," Haruhi deadpans, but remains ignored by the other hosts.

"So it's decided then!" Hikaru says.

"We'll all be eating at Haruhi's house!" Kaoru adds with a triumphant smile. Dang, that went straight through Hoshi's heart. _Stop thinking about it._

_"_Guys!" Haruhi repeats, and when they're all facing her, she says, "Look, the invitation's only for Hoshi. Dad said he wanted to meet my _female _friend, and after what happened last time you came over," she shoots a pointed glare at each of them, "he wouldn't be so partial to your arrivals. Plus, we hardly have enough food to feed all of you."

"Aww..." Honey frowns, hugging his stuffed bunny tightly. He gives Haruhi his best puppy dog eyes, but the stoic girl is undeterred.

"No means no. I'm sorry, Honey," she doesn't sound too broken up about it.

Tamaki wasn't having any of it, "MOMMYYYY!" he runs to Kyoya and hugs him tightly, tears streaming out of his face, "Our daughter won't let us come to her home and eat her delicious cooking as a family." _Mommy? Daughter? _Hoshi can't help but wondering about what goes on in his head.

Kyoya looks irked, "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

"Eh?!" Tamaki splutters, looking crestfallen, "Even Mommy hates me!" he cries, going to a corner.

"Tamaki, I didn't mean to insult you..." Haruhi says, though she looks bemused at how the simple invitation turned out so horribly.

They hear a sniff from Tamaki's corner, "It's okay Haruhi, Daddy just needs some time alone."

Haruhi rolls her eyes, the turns to Hoshi, who's looking thoroughly entertained at this whole extravaganza. "Go call your parents," Haruhi suggests, "then come over whenever you want."

Hoshi nods and winks playfully, "It's a date, then."

Tamaki's wails echo through the school.

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><p><strong>AN Hope this is better than before! Reviews are appreciated, along with a favorite or follow if you wish to see more. All flames will be used to roast the marshmallows of JUSTICE! Until next time~**


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